It is easy to think of musical genres as enduring, definitive territories that are discovered as much as they are created. But even continents drift, and when you dig deep into the careers of artists who are said to be from musical land X,Y or Z, you find that they often do not stay in one place for long, and are likely to be pushing their home territories in new directions. Nora Jane Struthers and Joe Overton are such artists, having come from the land of old-time and all things grass, but who are now several steps removed from being thought of as residents of only those two domains.

Despite bearing a title that might seem to point back to the old world, Nora Jane Struthers’ latest collection Back To Cast Iron finds the Nashville-based artist striding confidently into more electric, rock and roll type territory. In this episode, she addresses this evolution in her sound; she describes having gone from telling other women’s stories to telling her own; husband and bandmate Joe Overton talks about his love of rock bands like Wednesday and Slow Pulp; we hear how both Nora and Joe balance work and life now that they have two children, and much more. Recorded in October 2023 at the Albino Skunk Music Festival in Greer, SC, this episode also features music from their set.

Nora Jane Struthers

Nora Jane Struthers with Joe Overton (right, on pedal steel guitar) and band at their Albino Skunk Music Festival performance 10/06/23

Songs heard in this episode:

“Grass” by Nora Jane Struthers, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 10-06-23

“Barn Dance” by Nora Jane Struthers & the Party Line, from Carnival, excerpt

“Bottom of the Glass” by Vivian Leva, from Time Is Everything, excerpt

“Imaginary People” by Viv & Riley, from Imaginary People, excerpt

“Cornbread and Butterbeans” by Carolina Chocolate Drops, from Genuine Negro Jig, excerpt

“Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad” by Rhiannon Giddens, from You’re The One, excerpt

“Can’t Wait To Get Back on the Road” by Nora Jane Struthers, live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 10-06-23, excerpt

“I Can Hear The Birds” by Nora Jane Struthers, performed live at Albino Skunk Music Festival 10-06-23

Thank you for visiting us and giving this podcast a listen! This series is a part of the lineup of both public radio WNCW and Osiris Media, with all of the Osiris shows available here. You can also hear new episodes on Bluegrass Planet Radio here. Thanks to everyone at the Albino Skunk Music Festival; many of the great people at Albino Skunk made this episode possible, and you can listen to more episodes on this series on artists who played there, like Shinyribs, Darrell Scott, Miko Marks and Eilen Jewell. We also have an interview with the band Stillhouse Junkies from last fall’s Albino Skunk Fest coming up, as well as conversations with Pete Wernick among others from this fall’s IBMA conference, and Travis Book of the band Infamous Stringdusters, who has a new solo record out.. Thanks to Corrie Askew for producing the radio adaptations of this series on public radio WNCW, and to Joshua Meng, who wrote and performed our theme songs.

Southern Songs and Stories was recently ranked in the top 20 Southern podcasts here on feedspot.com, and remains a top 5% globally ranked podcast by Listen Notes, which makes us smile.

This is Southern Songs and Stories: the music of the South and the artists who make it. - Joe Kendrick